Shooting suspect dies after arrest

November 10, 2008

A suspect arrested shortly after a man was shot to death on the West Side Sunday afternoon died after he began having difficulty breathing and police officers took him to a hospital, authorities said this morning.

The final ruling on the death of Jermaine Johnson, 34, was inconclusive and was pending toxicology results, according to an autopsy performed by the Cook County medical examiner's office. Police had earlier said the suspect suffered from "a pre-existing medical condition."

The incident unfolded around 11:45 a.m. Sunday when Anthony White, 43, was shot after two gunmen ran up to him as he was getting out of his vehicle in the 100 block of South Mayfield Avenue in the Austin neighborhood, Chicago police spokesman Daniel O'Brien said.

The shooters fled and moments later, O'Brien said, police got a 911 call of man with a similar description hiding in a yard in the 100 block of South Mason Avenue, about a block away.

O'Brien said as officers came to the scene, Johnson tried to flee. When he was placed in custody, he began complaining of difficulty breathing and was taken to Loretto Hospital, where he died about an hour later. O'Brien said he did not know if Johnson, who was on parole for an armed robbery conviction, resisted arrest.

White, of the 1300 block of South Austin Boulevard, was pronounced dead at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, also about an hour after the shooting, according to the medical examiner's office. Police said the investigation into his shooting was continuing and no one was in custody. A motive was also not released.